Week Eleven Prompt - Ebooks and Audiobooks

The last two weeks have been a bit hectic for me, but I am finally getting back on track with my posts.

Personally, I love getting my hands on an actual book if I can since I stare at a computer screen for much of my work and classes, so I am often relieved when I can escape to the comfort of an unlit page. On the other hand, ebooks can be terribly convenient, especially if you are often on the move and are (like I often am) splitting your time between multiple books. Ereaders allow us to carry our entire reading libraries if we so choose, and give us the option of instantly checking out library ebooks.

But before seeing the readings for this week, I had never really considered how formats could affect the appeal factors for certain books. This probably shouldn't surprise me, since I am selective about the appearance and font used in the books I read. I still remember reading old hand-me-down paperbacks of the Anne of Green Gables series, loving the stories but absolutely detesting the typewriter-style, scrunched up font the editions used. I was able to overcome my issues with the printing choices in order to enjoy the books, but not every reader may be able to do this. The customization options on ereaders may prove to be a boon for nitpicky people like me, but even if we are able to customize the text in a way that we like, those changes might take away the intended visual cues the original design intended. A silly example would be someone reading a suspense novel in pink - the text may be pretty, but it may take away from the overall suspenseful tone the author has tried to cultivate. I admit I'm not sure how I would even broach this subject in an RA interview with a patron, other than if they said they stopped reading an ebook and then suggesting making visual adjustments to make it a better reading experience. This is definitely an issue to consider when discussing ebooks with patrons.

While ebooks can involve personal manipulation of the format to suit the readers' preferences, audiobooks are more like regular books in that they are what they are, and readers will have to consider the story, the narrator, the CD/digital format, and the length of the book when selecting their next read. Librarians providing RA to audiobook users will need to consider where they will be listening to the audiobook. If they are looking for audiobooks for the car - either for commutes or road trips - the length of an audiobook could factor into the patron's choice. While the story itself is important, the performing artists narrating audiobooks may turn out to be more important to some readers than the stories they are narrating. My sister drives a lot between work and visiting family, and listening to audiobooks and podcasts are the only way she is able to read and take in new information. I remember her gushing over a particular audiobook of The Great Gatsby and the perfection of the narrator. Some audiobooks may include music and musical cues, which could appeal to some readers or be a turn-off for others. Librarians should be familiar with how audiobooks are cataloged to ensure that all of these pertinent pieces of information are available for patrons to make informed decisions.